Saturday,
Aug. 11SPONSOR:Friends of
Spickard
WHO: PublicWHAT:Fund-raiser
bake sale and auction. Dance with DJ Joe Hackett. Joe has one of
the largest libraries of music in the world, and he has an excellent
reputation for playing what the crowd
likes. $2.50 per person.WHERE:Lincoln
Eagles LodgeWHEN:1 pm bake
sale and auction; 7 pm dance

Benefits
to help Bob Spickard and his family pay off their legal expenses
will be on Aug. 11 and 18.

Friends
of Spickard, who is facing $17,000 in legal fees for his defense of
a criminal suit in which he was found not guilty, have formed a
committee to help the financially burdened deputy.

On
Aug. 11 at the Eagles Lodge here in Lincoln, a day of events will
help raise money to pay off the deputyís legal bills. The
activities will include a bake sale and auction at 1 p.m. as well as
an evening dance at 7 with DJ Joe Hackett. Joe has one of
the largest libraries of music in the world, and he has an excellent
reputation for playing what the crowd
likes. Admission to the dance is $2.50 per person.

The
next weekend, on Aug. 18 from 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a
cosmic bowl party at Logan Lanes. Tickets priced at $10 per person
will have half of those proceeds going to the Spickard fund. Call
732-3556 for tickets for this event.

Logan
County Health Department will offer free osteoporosis screenings on
Senior Day, Friday, Aug. 3, at the Logan County Fairgrounds, from
11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Women over 50 years of age are encouraged to
get the free bone density screening along with educational
materials. The bone density screenings will be done by radiology
technicians from Family Medical Center. The screenings are funded by
the Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Women's Health.
For more information, call the Logan County Health Department, (217)
735-2317.

The
American Red Cross has increased blood collections each year for the
past four years, but the need for blood is outpacing the supply.
Year-to-date collections are 1.9 million units more than this time
last year. However, medical advancements such as liver transplants,
cardiac surgery and treatments for premature babies require more
donations every day. Thirty-eight percent of all blood products used
today are for people 65 and older. The blood supply is extremely
fragile, and the Red Cross will not diminish its efforts to
continually recruit new and repeat donors.

In
the past four years the Red Cross has collected nearly one-half of
the nationís blood supply, providing more than 14 million blood
products to more then 3,000 hospitals nationwide.

To
give blood, you must be in general good health, be at least 17 years
old, and weigh at least 110 pounds. The Red Cross especially needs
type O donations, the universal blood type that can be safely
transfused to any patient during an emergency and is always the
highest in demand.

The
Lincoln College Museum is presenting a temporary exhibit called
"Edward R. Madigan: From the Halls of Lincoln College to the
Halls of the White House." The exhibit, which is currently on
display, pays honor to one of Lincoln Collegeís most successful
alumni, the late Edward Madigan.

Madigan
graduated from Lincoln College in 1955, entered the Illinois
Legislature in 1966, was elected to Congress in 1972, and was
appointed by President Bush in 1991 to be secretary of agriculture.
In 1974, the Lincoln College Alumni Association presented Madigan
with its award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Public
Services. In 1975 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane
Letters degree by Lincoln College. He died in 1994.

Lincoln
College Museum curator Ron Keller says the display tells the story
of Madiganís career in public service. "The display reflects
his experiences and service through many photographs, and letters
from every president from Carter to Clinton. There are also various
artifacts from his works in Congress and in the White House."
The exhibit will run through November of 2001. The public is invited
to stop by the Lincoln College Museum to view this exhibit and tour
the rest of the historic exhibits.

The
Lincoln College Museum is located in the McKinstry Library on the
campus of Lincoln College. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through
Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

[Evelyn and
Agriculture Secretary Ed Madigan at the White House with President
and Mrs. Bush in 1991.]

NAPA
Auto Parts sponsors two blood drives in August at the Lincoln Sports
Complex. The first was Aug. 1. The second will be from noon until 5
p.m. on Aug. 15. Another blood drive will be at the Mount Pulaski Christian Church on Aug.
22. The hours will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

During July,
the following people reached goals in their blood donations: Glenn McCrea and
Connie Haseley, seven gallons; Robert Pharis, six gallons; Shawn Bertolino, five
gallons; Phillip Richmond, two gallons; and Myrna A. Aper, one gallon.

Get
a taste of different styles of dance this summer. On Aug. 7 and 9 from 9 a.m. to
noon you can join Lincoln Park Districtís dance camp. Jazz, ballet,
tap, Celtic and clogging are included. Special shoes are not needed, but please
wear something other than socks. Previous experience is not necessary
either. Instructor Audra Turley, owner of Audra's Studio of Dance, is a
master graduate of Dance Educators of America and is the director of the
award-winning Flying Feet Cloggers and competition teams. Parents will be
invited to a demonstration on the last day of class. Fee.

Flag football, cheerleading

Registration
for flag football and cheerleading is going on now. Teams will consist of
players in second and third grades and fourth and fifth grades.
Cheerleaders will need to be in first through fifth grade. Registration closes
on Aug. 10. Fee; reduced rates with additional family members. There
is a $5 late registration fee after Aug. 10. Games will start the week of
Sept. 10, with the season lasting approximately six weeks. Call Lincoln
Park District at 732-8770 for costs and if you have any questions.

We
are currently working on a few new programs for the fall and winter
seasons here at your park district. Keep your eye on Lincoln Daily News
for the latest information on sessions for adults and children.

5K run

On Saturday,
Aug. 25, Lincoln Park District will host the 13th annual 5K run in conjunction
with the Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival. Race time is 8 a.m. The run
begins and ends at the Park District at 1400 Primm Road. Dan Slack, a veteran
cross-country record-holder for LCHS, is our race coordinator. T-shirts are
given to all participants, and awards are given to the top three finishers in
each age category. Refreshments are provided. Registration forms are
available at both the Rec Center and the Lincoln Chamber office.

The
Oasis, Logan Countyís senior citizen center, at 501 Pulaski St. in
Lincoln, is open weekdays (except holidays) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The
center also is open on Friday and Sunday nights for table games. Dominic
Dalpoas is the executive director. Activities are open to all Logan
County senior citizens,
regardless of membership.

Regularly
scheduled activities

Circuit
Breaker assistance

The
representative will be on site at the Oasis Monday, Aug. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. Please call for an appointment.

Computer
classes

There
are a few spaces available for the Monday, Aug. 6, classes. Beginning computer
instruction will be at 1:30 p.m. and word processing at 2:30 p.m. There is a $3
fee for each class.

Garden
Club

The
garden tour scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 7, will be hosted by Bob and Lynn Neal
at the "Old Scully Homestead." Please join the group at the Oasis by 9
a.m.

Grandparents
Raising Grandchildren

The
regularly scheduled meeting for your support group is scheduled for Wednesday
evening, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m. Please join us. We missed you two weeks ago.

Hearing
screening

This
once-a-month free service is available from 10 a.m. until noon on Sept. 5.
Please call the Oasis for an appointment.

Game
winners

Weekday
pinochle winners for July 20 and 24 were Mable Hoagland and Easter Behrends
respectively. Winners on Friday night were Helen Cart for pinochle and Betty
Berger, Henry Warnisher and Lois Johnson for 5 in 1. Alice Thonton won the pool
game. Harley Heath won at pool on Sunday night.

Special
Events

Senior
Day at the Logan County Fair

This
Friday, Aug. 3, starting at noon, the Oasis Senior Center will sponsor the
Senior Day activities. Please join us for free health screenings that include
hearing, eyes, bone density and blood pressure. Information will also be
provided about the Mobile Rural Health Unit and Logan County Senior Services.
Stretch aerobics and entertainment will also be part of the dayís activities.

Newsletter

Friends of the
Oasis members receive bimonthly newsletters by mail. For more information,
people can call the Oasis at 732-6132 or 732-5844.

"In
police work, as a general rule, the job is negative. Who likes to
give tickets? A lot of our job is surrounded by a negative
atmosphere.

"But
DARE [Drug Abuse Resistance Education] is surrounded by a positive
atmosphere. Parents support it, the community appreciates it, and
the kids love it. When school opens, the sixth graders are already
asking when DARE starts."

Sisk,
who recalls that he "taught sixth grade in every school in
Lincoln," was the departmentís first DARE teacher.

"When
I started 18 years ago, DARE was a brand-new concept out of
California. I was the only DARE teacher. Today five guys are
teaching it.

"Everyone
thinks itís just about drugs. Itís not. Itís about stress and
how to cope. Itís about how to build self-esteem, how to stand up
to peer pressure, and itís all positive. We donít get into
negatives. There are DARE dances, DARE picnics, DARE fishing
tournaments, DARE baseball, softball and basketball teams. At the
DARE picnic in May, there were 400 to 500 kids. And they keep coming
up with new ideas, like the DARE bowling tournament."

Sisk
emphasizes that DARE teachers arenít trying to get kids to narc
(tattle) on other kids, like telling them who is using drugs.
"This is about you," he would tell the kids, "not
about somebody else."

Although
he took the DARE classes seriously, Sisk could also have a little
fun with the sixth graders.

"The
kids used to ask me how old I was," he remembers. "I would
always tell them I was 37. Then I would tell them Iíd been with
the Lincoln Police Department for 30 years.

"There
would be silence. Then about 15 minutes later one kid would raise
his hand and say, ĎWait a minute, you canít be 37.í

"I
would say, ĎI started with the police department when I was 7.í"

Sisk
believes DARE is here to stay.

"Iíve
worked with many mayors and chiefs of police, and never did any of
them ever even remotely talk about eliminating DARE," he says.
"If they had, theyíd probably have seen the biggest uprising
in the cityís history. City Hall wouldnít be able to hold
it."

Along
with DARE, Sisk also taught fifth grade VEGA (Violence Education and
Gang Awareness programs). VEGA leads into DARE in sixth grade, and
the program was later expanded to reach junior high and high school
students.

The
Illinois State Police do the DARE training, and there are yearly
conferences of DARE officers. "People at the conferences
started to recognize that the program needed reinforcement after
fifth and sixth grades," Sisk recalls. "First they came up
with the idea it needed reinforcement in junior high school, and
over the years they recognized a need to reinforce it in high
school.

"A
lot of communities havenít done what we are doing, teaching a
short DARE curriculum in junior high and high school," he says.
"The Lincoln Police Department has a consistent program from
kindergarten through 12th grade, and the difference it has made is
clear.

"If
a police officer in uniform had gone to the high school and walked
around 15 years ago, he would have felt out of place. He would have
been an outsider.

"Today
the kids know who we are, and they will talk to us. They relate to
officers in uniform. Itís a positive thing. If they have a
problem, kids feel comfortable to come to a police officer,
especially DARE officers, but others too.

"Itís
helped the whole police department. We have officers that go out to
the high school and eat lunch with the kids. Eighteen years ago, if
the chief of police had said to an officer, ĎGo out to the high
school and eat lunch,í everybody would have thought he was crazy.
Now itís part of the day.

"Thatís
the concept of community policing."

Siskís
efforts to be a positive influence on Lincolnís youth are
recognized by those who have worked with him.

"He
was one heck of a juvenile officer," Detective Mike Harberts
says. "He related so well with kids. The kids in this town
trusted Darrell and would bring him information. We solved many
crimes, both juvenile and adult, because of that.

"And
he was a wonderful DARE teacher. He had an innate ability to get
down to their level. He was compassionate, and he could see where
they were coming from. He treated each kid as an individual with a
story of their own.

"He
was a wonderful colleague too. Detective Bunner and I very much
enjoyed working with Darrell on investigations. Any time we had a
juvenile involved with any kind of crime, he was a wealth of
information."

"Darrell
created the Lincoln DARE program," Police Chief Rich Montcalm
says. "He was the second officer in the state to be trained in
DARE. He put his heart into it. His wife helped him make his own
posters for the program, and the state used some of those posters in
their statewide training.

"He
was also instrumental getting us to proceed into the junior high and
high school level. We are one of the few police departments in the
state that does it.

"Everybody
here still considers him part of the department. We look on him as a
resource. Weíre fortunate heís still in the area and we can ask
him questions."

Ron
Robbins, who was police chief from 1989 to 1997, remembers that he
heard nothing but high praise for Sisk from teachers, principals and
superintendents. "I would hear it from Washington-Monroe
School, then a month later from Northwest, then later from Central.
Thatís how I knew it was true.

"Darrell
started the role model program. He would pick Lincoln High School
students who had good personalities, were popular and had good
grades. Sometimes he would get basketball and football players,
because the younger kids knew who the sports stars were. Then those
role models would go around with him to the grade schools and give
the kids there a positive message ó donít do drugs, donít
smoke.

"Darrell
is the main reason our DARE program is what it is today,"
Robbins adds. "As chief I sat in on some of his classes. He
just had a way of working with kids that helped him get his message
across. He really did care about the kids."

Dean
Langdon, now assistant principal at Lincoln Community High School,
worked with Darrell for six years, ever since he came to Lincoln in
1995.

"He
was a great asset, and he will be missed," Langdon says.
"Darrell made himself totally available to us, whether we
needed help or just advice. We could reach him anytime we needed
him.

"He
had a great relationship with the kids, very proactive. He always
wanted to prevent trouble from happening, and he was always
interested in kids learning a lesson from their behavior.

"He
had a nice balance between being a law enforcement officer and being
an educator. He preferred to be an educator, but when needed he
could take a firm stand.

"He
had a post outside a certain door. Kids would come in, and it wasnít
unusual to hear them talking to him, maybe about law enforcement,
maybe about fishing, maybe about their personal problems at home. He
would give them advice about what they could do if they thought
something bad was going to happen at home. He believed in kidsí
rights to be free from abuse.

"Because
of the program, there is a different attitude about police officers.
The trust that Darrell built in the schools has worked to the good
of the community," Langdon says.

Although
he misses his role in the lives of school children, Sisk is enjoying
his work with Sojourn and is looking forward to new developments.

"For
the most part, I am a court advocate. I assist victims of domestic
battery to get orders of protection against abusers." He doesnít
talk about details, because confidentiality is necessary for the
safety of the victims.

He is
looking forward to a new program. "Sojourn is in the process of
putting together a curriculum to teach group sessions at Lincoln
Correctional Center. Some of these people have been involved in
domestic violence issues. Theyíre going to be released from prison
some day. We can give them better skills to cope with relationships.

"Iím
on a mission thatís not been done around here. Itís going to be
exciting." Langdon thinks it is a natural transition for Sisk
to go from working with young people to the Sojourn program.

"He
has gone from helping one group of people in the community to
helping another. Victims of domestic violence have kids. His
expertise with children in a school context is a natural transition
to working with young families. He has seen the effects of domestic
violence in the schools. From there it is a natural step into the
home with victims of domestic violence."

"Heíll do a
wonderful job in his new career in Sojourn," Robbins agrees.
"When it comes to helping someone, whether itís a kid or an
adult, heíll do fine. Heíll see that they get the necessary
help. Darrell will always be there for these people."

[JULY
13, 2001]Although
Darrell Sisk retired from the Lincoln Police Department on March 1,
he didnít go very far away. Just a couple of blocks.

Today
you can find him in his office in the lower level of the Logan
County Courthouse, where he is a court advocate for Sojourn, an
organization that gives shelter and service to victims of domestic
violence.

[Darrell Sisk]

He
likes the new job. "Thereís a real demand for this service,
even more so than I thought when I was a cop," he says. The new
job keeps him on his toes, the way he had to be as a police officer.
"Itís educational, challenging, demanding, and sometimes
frustrating and confusing," he says.

Still,
he misses the old job. He keeps in touch with whatís happening in
the police department and is happy that his old friend, Rich
Montcalm, now police chief, is inaugurating some new programs.

"Many
of the programs Rich is putting into place are things he and I
worked on while I was in the department," Sisk says. Heís
especially pleased that Montcalm is establishing an Emergency
Response Team that will be prepared to deal with a serious incident
in any Lincoln-area school, because kids were such a big part of his
life as a police officer.

[Darrell Sisk and Police Chief Rich Montcalm]

"Weíve
got to have a policy to deal with a school crisis such as a
shooting. Weíve got to know whoís in charge, where the phones
are, what door to go in, even how to deal with the media. The first
people to get to a school emergency are going to be the local
police, and they need to have the training and the equipment to end
the threat. Thatís what the Emergency Response Team is all
about."

Sisk
spent almost 31 years (heís one month shy) with the Lincoln Police
Department, and for more than 20 of those years he was a juvenile
officer, a DARE teacher, a VEGA teacher, and a recognized authority
on juvenile investigation and crime.

He
designed and wrote the Lincoln Police Department policy manual for
juvenile procedures, which is still in use. He assisted in writing
school discipline policies and served on many committees concerning
school discipline. He organized all juvenile records for the city of
Lincoln and for Logan County, helped start the teen court for
juvenile offenders, which is still operating, helped coordinate
community youth programs of all kinds, and more.

He
grew up in Lincoln, was drafted in 1967 and spent two years in the
Army, 19 months of that time in Vietnam, came back and started to
work in the Sheriffís Department as a radio dispatcher under Glenn
Nichols. Shortly after that he applied for a job as a city policeman
and got it.

He
started as a patrolman, driving around in a squad car. The car, he
remembers, had one light on top and one little hand-held radio, with
the radio equipment taking up the entire car trunk.

"To
use the radar unit, you had to stand outside the car and point it at
someone," he recalls. "If I got into a squad car today, Iíd
have no idea what all that high-tech equipment is. Itís like being
inside a spaceship."

He
moved up to sergeant and then became a shift commander. But on May
11, 1980, his career took a sudden turn. That was the night he got
shot, and, ironically, he was shot by two juveniles who had escaped
from St. Charles Juvenile Detention Center, although he didnít
know that at the time.

"They
were 15 and 16, the kind of kids we teach now," he says.

He saw
the two youths running around the old K-Mart building at 2 a.m. and
decided to see what was happening. "I got out of the car, and
the next thing I knew I was lying in a flower bed. A state trooper
found me."

He
should have been dead; a combination of good luck and good thinking
saved his life. It happened that he was wearing the only bulletproof
vest available to the Lincoln Police Department at the time, and
that one was a "loaner."

"Back
in the old days, vests were heavy ó about 30
pounds," he says. "Today you canít tell whether an
officer is wearing one or not. But in 1980 they were just coming
out. The department was trying to find idiots to wear this one
because it was so heavy. I volunteered because I was working
nights."

When
he was shot in the back, he was standing close to a steel door. He
spun into the door and hit it so hard he got a concussion, but the
borrowed vest stopped the bullets and saved his life, at least the
first time. The concussion probably saved his life the second time.

An old
friend, Detective Mike Harberts, adds some details to the story.
Harberts was a patrolman then, relatively new to the department.

"It
was the night before Motherís Day. I had taken the night off, and
he was checking my building," Harberts recalls. "There
were a lot of flats of plants around the K-Mart. Darrell was near
the double doors on the east side, walking down a row of flowers,
when he was shot in the back two times. The force of the bullets
hitting him drove him into the doors. He was knocked unconscious and
thrown in a table full of flowers. That saved his life. If the kids
hadnít thought he was dead, they would have killed him. They were
going to shoot him in the head with his own gun."

The
juveniles fled south, finally killing a 23-year-old detective in
Little Rock, Ark. They are now in jail in Arkansas, serving life
without parole.

"They
thought they killed Darrell too," Harberts says. "They
told the police down there they had killed a police officer in a
town between Bloomington and Springfield."

After
the shooting, Sisk gave up patrolling the streets and became a
juvenile officer. He didnít know, when he took the job, that heíd
been shot by juveniles. But finding that out didnít keep him from
becoming what those who worked with him call an outstanding juvenile
officer, one who liked and understood the kids he was working with.

"I
worked on any crime that involved a child ó burglary, armed
robbery, sexual abuse cases, anything. I did the investigation. I
worked with the detectives on major crimes."

The
most common crimes, he remembers, were fights and thefts. He recalls
only one murder involving juveniles.

"I
was involved in the court system, putting kids in various
institutions. Back in the old days, in 1980, a police officer could
put a juvenile in detention. If I picked up a kid for retail theft,
Iíd put him in detention. In 1980 the police could hold a kid 48
hours, then take him before a judge. Today itís a whole different
system. A juvenile probation officer has to authorize detention.
That officer will be the deciding factor whether the kid is detained
or released to his parents."

But
Sisk would always rather find a way to keep a kid out of the
juvenile justice system than a way to get him into it. To help do
that, he designed a juvenile diversion and citation program, another
program still in practice today.

"The
largest percent of calls to the police department involved juveniles
ó a kid riding a bicycle through a garden, a kid
throwing snowballs," he recalls. "I created a special
citation. I would write everything down on the ticket, give it to
the kid and tell him to take it home to his parents. If I didnít
get a call from the parents within two days, Iíd write them a
letter. The kids knew a letter was going to follow and theyíd
better tell their folks."

He
also had some special techniques for the "station
adjustments," when a youngster was brought to the station after
doing something he shouldnít have.

"In
the early days, I used to target hair," Sisk says. "If the
kid had long hair, Iíd tell him the next time he got caught doing
whatever he was doing, he was going to lose six inches of hair. The
kid would sign a form that he agreed to that. Or if he was caught
riding a minibike in the street, heíd sign a form agreeing that if
he got caught doing it again, he was going to sell the bike."

However,
itís the positive, not the negative, side of his job as a juvenile
officer that Sisk remembers and misses the most. He was the
departmentís first DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) teacher,
and he still believes itís a great program.

While teaching DARE, he
was with every sixth-grade class in town once a week for 17 weeks.
"I taught sixth grade in every school in Lincoln," he
says. "I loved it. Thatís the part I really miss."

People
all across this country and, in fact, around the world, claim roots in
Logan County. They have very interesting stories to tell, and some of them
like to connect with those of us who stayed at home. Logan County Diaspora
publishes the stories of former Logan County residents. With their
permission, we also include their e-mail addresses so that old friends
might be reunited. If you wish to be part of the Logan County
Diaspora, e-mail ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.

[JULY
10, 2001]The
25th year reunion for the Lincoln Community High School class of
1976 is planned for Saturday, Aug. 4. Any
classmates who would still like to attend, please call or e-mail
Janice Greer, (217) 735-2621, jjmm@abelink.com